IF I had a ticket that I wasn't going to use, I would absolutely NOT use the STEP system.

I did not register in the main lottery because I could not afford it at the time. I was going to use the STEP program or go try my chances in the secondary sale. Thanks to half-time rule changes, neither of those options are available to me anymore. There is NO WAY I would want to give all those people who gamed the system and registered for more than they needed another chance to get their greedy little hands on a single ticket.

***i do realize many awesome people entered that lottery and did not try to game the system. I trust that if these people really want to be there they will be resourceful enough to acquire a ticket through means other than STEP. There will be plenty of tickets for the ones who try

Sell to your friends. FACE VALUE OR FUCK OFF.

Last edited by NessaZee on Tue Feb 21, 2012 12:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

What will those people who had multiple registrations do with step tickets? Will they not activate those that are under their name...I guess that there's no point in getting a step ticket and sending it back through STEP to get the name changed to someone who can go to will call with id...

The Lady with a Lamprey

"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri

NessaZee wrote:@BBadger, to explain: I have no interest in giving people who registered for more tickets than they needed the first time around a second chance!

So in other words, you're lumping anyone and everyone who entered into the lottery into the same category, which is to say every person who has attempted to buy tickets this year. What more, you'd choose to punish people who are attempting to buy tickets in a new system that you cannot actually game in the same manner (if at all), because they lost out in the heavily gamed other system.

I guess we should be glad that such bizarre logic is moot as you don't have a ticket to buy or sell.

"The essence of tyranny is not iron law. It is capricious law." -- Christopher Hitchens

NessaZee wrote:@BBadger, to explain: I have no interest in giving people who registered for more tickets than they needed the first time around a second chance!

So in other words, you're lumping anyone and everyone who entered into the lottery into the same category, which is to say every person who has attempted to buy tickets this year. What more, you'd choose to punish people who are attempting to buy tickets in a new system that you cannot actually game in the same manner (if at all), because they lost out in the heavily gamed other system.

I guess we should be glad that such bizarre logic is moot as you don't have a ticket to buy or sell.

I chose not to game this system. I will not support those who did (by giving my hypothetical ticket to STEP) even if it means excluding some who didn't....besides, it would seem that the majority of those who didn't game the system have pretty much given up on going....There will be plenty of tickets available to resourceful burners who want to be there regardless of how many tickets are fed back into STEP.

The inherent problem with STEP is that the program is largely reliant on the same unscrupulous people who took more than they needed to in the first place. The community is supposed to rely on these less principled people to sell them their extra tickets? Oh and these same people are expected to eat the processing fees, basically selling the ticket at a loss when they could sell it for twice as much...yeah right.

My reasons for not wanting people to use the STEP program aren't outstandingly honor based...they are spurred more from bitterness that the rules changed halfway through...Not supporting people who gamed the system would also mean huge restrictions from whom I could buy. I'm not sure I could impose that on myself at this point. meh have to rethink my hypocritical stance

If someone put in multiple lottery entries and scored tickets they are still eligible to get a ticket under STEP in their own name and scalp the main sale tickets. All tickets right now can be scalped, only the STEP tickets non-transferable.

Doriangrey wrote:If someone put in multiple lottery entries and scored tickets they are still eligible to get a ticket under STEP in their own name and scalp the main sale tickets. All tickets right now can be scalped, only the STEP tickets non-transferable.

True, but pro scalpers don't actually want to go to the event. This would be a burner/scalper -- hopefully not a great number of them.

NessaZee wrote:***i do realize many awesome people entered that lottery and did not try to game the system. I trust that if these people really want to be there they will be resourceful enough to acquire a ticket through means other than STEP. There will be plenty of tickets for the ones who try

We have friends in our community who are reluctant to talk to their burner friends because they have extra tickets, which is like bragging about having oxycontin. They don't want to answer the phone or e-mail because everybody ends up pitching them a sob story about why THEY should get tickets. (This Discussion is a perfect example.)

It's like this has become the Donner Party, and they're the ones with extra food. I can imagine that it's going to be an unfair and excruciating situation for them. My uncle said receiving a large sum of money was a "blowjob with teeth." One of his new friends killed him a couple of years later.

I'm not going to fake low income, beg to you or my friends for tickets and place the burden of decision on them, buy them from scalpers, rob somebody, prostitute myself, cheat, or cancel my plans to go. My upper limit to this process is my respect for the community and my own sense of morality.

Regardless of how much it tortures me, no dollar value or festival in the desert is worth sacrificing my integrity. My participation by any means necessary would not improve Black Rock City. It would degrade it.

We are citizens of Black Rock City regardless of whether we're on the playa, and you cannot judge us for refusing to disrespect this community that we adore, even as we see it happen increasingly all around us. Because THAT path leads to the ruthless, selfish civilization we seek to leave behind, which challenges and degrades what it means to be a "burner."

I will ask you all to consider using the STEP program, and implore you not to propagate the toxic idea that if we don't make it to Burning Man this year it's because we didn't fucking "TRY" hard enough.

"The Red Baron is smart.. He never spends the whole night dancing and drinking root beer.. "-The WWI Flying Ace

Doriangrey wrote:If someone put in multiple lottery entries and scored tickets they are still eligible to get a ticket under STEP in their own name and scalp the main sale tickets. All tickets right now can be scalped, only the STEP tickets non-transferable.

True, but pro scalpers don't actually want to go to the event. This would be a burner/scalper -- hopefully not a great number of them.

But these same scalpers probably have the name of at least one of their buyers. How hard is it to tell the buyer there ticket is now being held at will call under there name. Scalper: 1STEP: 0

Doriangrey wrote:If someone put in multiple lottery entries and scored tickets they are still eligible to get a ticket under STEP in their own name and scalp the main sale tickets. All tickets right now can be scalped, only the STEP tickets non-transferable.

True, but pro scalpers don't actually want to go to the event. This would be a burner/scalper -- hopefully not a great number of them.

But these same scalpers probably have the name of at least one of their buyers. How hard is it to tell the buyer there ticket is now being held at will call under there name. Scalper: 1STEP: 0

Historically, a person has been able to verify that Will Call tickets were changed into their name until about a week before the event. Any closer to the event, and the following procedure ("Last Minute Will Call Changes") was necessary instead:

“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.” George Washington Carver